100th anniversary of the Goethe University
The Goethe University was founded by citizens of Frankfurt in 1914 and still sees itself in this tradition today: a university by citizens for citizens.
It bears the name of Frankfurt’s most famous son: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. At the beginning of the 20th century, private donors funded the first institutes, the nucleus of the “Royal University of Frankfurt am Main”. It was not until 18 years after its founding that the university was given its present name at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of the German poet and universal scholar Goethe. Since 2008, the Goethe University has operated as a foundation university. It thus enjoys a high degree of autonomy.
In its varied history the university has set standards in research and teaching. In 1914 Nobel Prize laureate Paul Ehrlich became the first Professor of Pharmacology. In 1919 Frankfurt created the first Chair of Sociology and Economic Theory, held by Franz Oppenheimer, the founder of social market economy. In 1933 the university was forced into line with the Nazis; many professors with a Jewish background emigrated.
Adorno, Habermas and Critical Theory
In 1946 the university succeeded in winning back eminent scholars, particularly Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, who formed the “Frankfurt School” and whose “critical theory” contributed to the outstanding reputation of the university. They were followed by intellectuals such as the philosopher Jürgen Habermas, the writer and film-maker Alexander Kluge and the poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger.
The university has also produced numerous Nobel Prize winners, including the biochemist Hartmut Michel and the biologist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard. The names of many other former students also resonate. Among the university alumni are Germany’s First Lady Daniela Schadt, the companion of Federal President Joachim Gauck, swimming star and gold medallist Michael Groß and former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The Goethe University offers more than 170 degree programmes and is also of interest to students from abroad: around 16 per cent of the more than 45,000 students come to Frankfurt from all over the world.
100th anniversary of the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, in 2014
